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Florimat™
Capillary Matting
FLORIMAT
2 & 5 Capillary Mats for
Professional use
Easy to
operate and maintain under Cover and Outdoors
Introduction.
As a
professional grower, you want a system which delivers healthy plants of
consistent quality while being easy to operate and to maintain. You need to
produce for substantially lower costs and with few or no plants out of
grade.
When properly
installed and managed with reasonable care, Florimat systems do
that. Florimat 2 is for use outdoors and for most crops under cover.
Florimat 5 is for use under cover by growers who use water to control the
habit of their crops.
1. Even water distribution – and
redistribution.
Each Florimat has a specific capillary
action so that it not only delivers water evenly, but also pulls water
from plants which are not using it to those which are. We aim for a
variation in “water tension” of < + 2.5cm w.g. (1) By comparison, Dutch
work in the ‘80s measured what happens in peat when water is held at
tensions as high as 31.6cm w.g., or 1.5 pF. (2)
● Plants on any one area of Florimat
should “all get the same breakfast” when they are watered, “and all
grow the same muscles" as they dry.
● “Topping up” by hosepipe should be
unnecessary.
2. Managing alkalinity in irrigation water.
Alkaline (hard) water forms lime
scale which not only blocks irrigation systems and reduces capillary
action; it also forms in growing media, where it coats fertilizers and
roots. The effect is “like pouring cement over your cornflakes.” Since
1974, we have specialized in the supply and support of acid dosage
systems, which aim to provide precise control of the alkalinity of a
water supply. Alkalinity control is not the same as pH control.
● Your crops will make better use of
the fertilizers which you buy. They will grow more freely.
● Precise management of “cation
exchange capacity” in your growing media makes it possible to build up a
reserve of fertilizer for your plants, so that they last better in
retail outlets and transplant better for their customers.
3. Managing water to control plant
habit.
Customers generally report that where
Florimats are installed and alkalinity is controlled appropriately, they
can use a “wet to dry” cycle to control the height of plants such as
Choysia, Hebe, Photinia and Poinsettia.
● Those customers have eliminated
the use of growth regulators.
4. Fertilizer distribution and
savings.
4.1. When plants all take up the
same amount of water, and when that water contains liquid fertilizer,
every plant in a batch receives the same amount of fertilizer. Most of
that fertilizer is taken up quickly, either by the plants or by
adsorption on the growing medium. (See “cation exchange capacity”
above.) Therefore fertilizer generally remains with the individual
plants. However, the capillary action of Florimats pulls surplus water
from those plants which do not need it to those which do.
4.2. Florimats encourage very large
and diverse populations of those microflora which help plants to take up
fertilizers.
4.3. Florimat systems greatly reduce
leaching. Reduced leaching, coupled with use of liquid fertilisers in
place of “controlled release” or “enrobed” fertilisers, has led to cost
savings of 60%.
● Florimats can improve your
control of crop quality while reducing your costs.
5. Water Recycling and Reduced Water
Consumption
5.1 Plants must never be waterlogged, and
rainfall must be harvested and recycled in such condition that it needs
no further treatment before re-use. When correctly installed, Florimat
2 pulls surplus water out of the growing medium, and works as an
effective rainwater harvesting and cleaning system.
5.2 For seriously mucky waters, our
“Manchester System” can make use of up to 15 steps to achieve clean,
healthy water. (FPL supply guidance, standard designs and specific
components; please ask for details.)
● Since 1998 growers who use the
Florimat systems correctly have reduced water consumption by an average
of 59%.
6. Fungal and bacterial pathogens.
Early assays by HRI Efford showed
that in Florimat systems those beneficial microflora which predate on
most plant pathogens multiply in overwhelming numbers. Practical
experience and work by Governments overseas have confirmed this. In
2010 work started in Holland, because in some cases Erwinia and
Pseudomonas have disappeared from crops which were known to be infected.
● Customers using the Florimat
system rarely use fungicides. This is good for your pocket and for your
marketing.
7.
Soil-borne pests.
We work with partners who have licences for
the whole of the British Isles for the production, by patented means, of
three species of beneficial nematodes. A wide range of insect pests
which spend part of their life cycle in growing media appear to be
controlled. FPL customers have reported that these natural allies have
lived happily in Florimats for 2 years so far, and have survived a wide
range of air temperatures.
● These nematodes have reduced the cost of
chemical pesticides.
8.
Deterring mosses etc.
Nearly all our customers install Twinwall
drip-line irrigation under their Florimats, and supply liquid
fertilizers through the drip lines. Every time the crop becomes dry
enough, so does the Florimat. Whenever that happens, fertilizer salts
become concentrated in the remaining water. The resulting osmotic
pressure prevents the growth of mosses, lichens, liverworts and weed
seeds. It also prevents almost all rooting through. We have seen this
control cease just once, after 138mm of rain in 18 hours.
● Costs of chemicals and of manual labour
for cleaning are greatly reduced.
10. Looking ahead.
Those customers who are getting the
basic steps right have found that they can apply overseas research and
development work about how specific fertilizers reinforce the paths
through which many air- and water-borne pathogens might otherwise enter
plants. Growers overseas who are concerned about Botrytis, Black Spot,
mildews and Phytophthora ramorum, and have found this useful. Small
systematic trials are being planned to test the active ingredients and
their synergists.
For more information, please send an
e-mail referring to the paragraph concerned.
(1)
w.g. – “water gauge,” an indication of how hard a
plant has to pull water out of the soil.
(2) pF -
the same tension, expressed not in centimeters but as a logarithm of
centimeters.
FLORIMAT
3 for Garden Centre Benches
Simple.
Robust, Effective Plant Care
1. Start
with clean bench 2. Fix black membrane
3. Insert a wick 4. and check length below.
3. Then fix the Florimat. 6. Use FPL cover mat to finish.
When used as
recommended
Florimat
will save Water, Fertilisers & Labour
On
Florimats beneficial microflora reduce the need for fungicides
and keep
plants healthy.
Lower
costs and better quality make Florimats a
Profitable Investment!
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